Anthem
by BlackANDR01D
Summary: Here's to the ones who don't give up.
1. Better, Faster, Stronger

Sakura

_Better, Faster, Stronger :: Daft Punk_

Sakura grit her teeth as blood began seeping from the scrapes on her knuckles. She briefly stopped to check the damage before continuing to brutally pummel the wooden practice dummy. Front kick, right straight, crescent* and the dummy was in splinters.

Soon after, Sakura collapsed in a sweaty, panting heap on the dirt, convulsing violently from cramps and sores.

"D-damn it," she panted, shakily propping herself up on her elbows.

Curling into the fetal position with her head shoved between her knees, she cursed again, sending a wave of pain through her stomach. She struggled over to a nearby bush and threw up her breakfast, her lunch, and everything else in between.

She couldn't do this.

She couldn't.

Sakura lay on the ground, waiting for the tears to come.

A few months after Naruto had departed for training with Jiraiya, Sakura had resolved to train harder than ever- harder than it seemed possible, at first. She trained literally all day, sometimes collapsing right in the training area and slept there. And even then, rarely did she sleep peacefully, waking in the night to vomit back up whatever she had eaten (usually ramen, being the only fast and cheap source and a sort of comfort food), or sometimes even to heal herself to keep the intense pain at bay. She kept her hair short (once considering cutting all of it off), kept to herself, and again, trained until she dropped.

And now it was taking its toll.

Sakura screamed as an excruciating pain ripped through her once again. Oh _God_, how she wanted to heal herself- but she'd tried that earlier, and all she could manage was a weak green spark. She was too fatigued to do anything at this point.

She sat up and forced herself to do five sit-ups, grimacing against the pain. Then came five push-ups- one, two, three-

Her arms gave out underneath her, and she collapsed face-down on the dirt.

She lay there, just letting the stitches ripple up and down her body, feeling moisture finally prickle at the corners of her eyes.

_I can't do this. _She thought. _It's too much. It doesn't matter how hard I try- I'll never be as strong as Sasuke or Naruto. _

Eventually, the salty tears spilled over, soundlessly streaming down her haggard face. So distracted by her own failures, she didn't notice the wind pick up and swirl around one point, taking on the form of a teenaged boy. Sakura's neck muscles strained as she looked up at the boy that she had once nursed a large schoolgirl crush on- Sasuke Uchiha.

"I won't be held back by liabilities like you." He sneered, looking down at her.

"Bastard!" she snarled, her voice thick from crying. "I am _not useless!_"

He leaned down, momentarily caressing her cheek with his calloused thumb, wiping away the tears.

"We'll see." He whispered, vanishing into a miniature typhoon of dust and leaves.

_I _will _get stronger_. Sakura thought, trying to make use of her limp arms. _Just you wait._

But every time she tried to lift herself off the ground, she would simply collapse again, her pink hair mixing with the dirt. At this rate, she would have to be hospitalized-

_No._

A sudden rush of strength shot through her, and her arms jolted upwards in a push-up. She smiled, doing another. And another. And another.

In a nearby tree, Ino crouched, her hands forming the possession technique. She didn't know how long this would last before her chakra was sapped, jumping in and out of Sakura's body to provide bursts of strength, but at least she could help for now.

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><p><strong>*crescent- the tae kwon do term for roundhouse kick.<strong>

**The first one shot featuring our leading lady, Sakura. Hoorah! **

**I'll be doing one shots for Temari, Ino, Ten Ten, Hinata, Matsuri, and other minor characters or OC's at the reviewer's request. Keep that in mind as you skim through this fanfiction, alright?**

**Just watched a Bad Lip Reading video so I'm overly happy :D**


	2. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

Ino

_Sheena is a Punk Rocker :: The Ramones_

Sweating in time to the beat, Ino decided that the best part of a concert would definitely be the _moshing. _On the surface, Ino appeared to be a very pretty-preppy girl, and that the only reason she would attend a Sum 41 (1) concert would be to 'watch the freaks'.

But nope, she'd pay the thirty bucks, slap on skinny jeans and a striped tank top, and crowd-surf the night away.

She screamed in excitement as a kid in front of her was launched into the air, throwing up her rock hands and jumping, trying to get the attention of the lead singer. As another circle formed, Ino joined in, throwing elbows and smashing against bodies as if her life depended on it. She giggled when someone lifted her off her feet and onto the supportive hands of the crowd. Grinning, she undid her bun, letting it fly wildly around her head. Grinning even wider when she saw her destination- the stage. Somehow, her feet made it on stage and the security took no notice. The crowd did the rest of the work for her, pushing her up into the waiting arms of the bassist. Hurriedly, she pulled away and turned to the audience, blushing and breathless but still energetic.

"I'm telling Shannon, Cone (2)!" the drummer shouted, making her blush darken.

It took her a few seconds to realize that the singer had been holding her arm above her head like a winner in a wrestling match- silently congratulating her for making it onstage.

"Let's hear it for this kid who loves us enough to get past security!"

A deafening roar rose from the crowd, some even picking up the disembodied chant of "Ino! Ino! Ino!"- those people being her friends. The bassist smiled and the guitarist clapped her good-naturedly on the shoulder.

"Okay, so as a show of gratitude, let's _rock this fucking house down!_"

They began a wild cover of The Ramones's _Sheena is a Punk Rocker_, with Ino singing and shouting as loud as possible along with the singer. When the final note rang throughout the small club, Ino took her leave and jumped back into the crowd.

As she did so, she had to change her mind about the best part of a concert- hands down, it would be all the sweaty hugs exchanged at the very end. Her friends crowded around her, jumping and squealing- "Holy _fuck!_"- and mounted her on their shoulders, screaming as loudly as possible.

"Guys! Quit it!" she laughed, secretly relishing the feeling of all eyes on her. "Seriously! I don't know you!"

They ignored her anyhow, marching through the venue like the supreme armada. Many pairs of eyes were upon her, and Ino began waving like a queen on a stupid whim.

"You little fuckers are so _embarrassing!_" She screamed down at her friends. "But... oh fuck this. I love you crazy bitches anyway!"

* * *

><p><strong>So. This one happens to be rather short, less than a page long, even when I stretched it out a little. Of course, I'm kinda glad it's short so I can write a long AN.**

**As you have already probably figured out, this series is meant to show all the female characters in a completely different way from what they're normally portrayed as, so naturally, Ino _would _be the first choice for this song. And to be honest I'd like her a lot better if she was actually lke this XD**

**(1) I am **_**so, so sorry **_**if you don't know these guys, I... I just LOVE THEM, OKAY?**

**(2) Cone is the bassist of Sum 41, Shannon being his wife. I've tried numerous times to find her on MySpace and the like, but... I can't. It's very frustrating because I'd kind of like to know more about the person one of my idols is married to.**

**Aaaand, that's all for references, I guess.**

_**Phineas and Ferb **_**is playing in the background...**

**Hey! Where's Perry?**

**Tell me in your review! *BRICK'D* **

**...Sorry.**


	3. Waka Waka

Hinata

_Waka Waka :: Shakira_

It had been about four months since the strange sport 'soccer' had made its debut in Konoha, and Hinata was still hooked.

She practiced it endlessly until she could control the ball like another appendage, until she could effortlessly beat anyone pitted against her.

The sport was so interesting to her- she liked how violence and foul play was frowned upon, and how everything was as evenly matched as possible. The games were fun for everyone, and as casual as can be- nothing like sparring. And the funny thing was that injuries were more like a trophy than an actual wound, and Hinata always displayed her bruises and scrapes proudly. Soccer was probably the only thing that everyone- both ninjas and civilians- enjoyed.

But today, something was wrong.

As Hinata stood in the field, hair tied back and soccer ball in hand, she was all alone. The entire complex of fields were all completely empty.

"Solo practice for today, I guess." she said to herself, already beginning to juggle the ball.

Of all the things Hinata just couldn't get right, the worst was definitely juggling. On good days, she could get around seven bounces off each knee, and on the bad, she was lucky if she could get two total.

But it seemed that today was better than all the others combined, probably because of the lack of distraction from other players.  
>She had completed eighty-four consecutive juggles when she heard footsteps and a pronounced, "Hey, Hinata!"<p>

She squeaked and kicked the ball too high, and it fell and hit her over the head. She groaned in pain, clutching the tenderized area with her fingers.

Naruto winced. "Sorry about that," he said. "What're you doing here, anyway?"

She shrugged and continued her juggling, unable to get into her previous stride.

"Oh well." Naruto smiled. "Hey, I heard you were pretty awesome at soccer. You wanna scrimmage or something?"

Hinata thought for a minutes, staring down at her muddy cleats. She shook her head, _Maybe another time, _she thought.

Naruto grinned cheekily. "Oh really? You scared or something? I bet I could beat you!"

This snapped Hinata's head up, a dangerous look in her eye.

_Oh really?_ she thought.

Alone on the field, the two started with a kick-off, on Naruto's side. He stretched, took a running start, and booted the ball with his toe.

_Too hard. _Hinata thought. _He'll miss._

She didn't even bother going after the ball as it listed severely to the right, missing the goal by an impressive margin. One goal kick for her.

Hinata held the ball at arm's length and let it drop. She kicked it lightly, darting towards it as soon as it left her foot. She broke into a hard dribble with Naruto closing in aggressively. Just as he was about to reach in and steal the ball, she performed a quick scissor kick and faked him out, finally shooting a low, fast kick directly into the goal.

Naruto groaned, his inflated ego bruised.

"Oh come on!" he cried. "That was a fluke! A fluke!"

Hinata smiled and shrugged. _Say what you will, Naruto. _she thought.

_Just to let you know, I'm not going to go easy on you._

"Wow..." said a very mystified, very muddy Naruto. "You really beat my ass, didn't you, Hinata?"

She laughed quietly, suddenly reverting back to her shy self. "I suppose that's one way to put it."

He shrugged, grinning dopily. "It was really fun, though."

As they walked away together, he said, "Same time tomorrow? I don't know. Guess I kinda enjoy getting the shit kicked out of me."

"...Sure, Naruto."

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

**I'll be honest.**

**I don't really have anything to say.**

**I dropped soccer recently, so it's hard for me to shed it in such a positive light (it was still fun, I just got hurt a lot).**

**Yeah.**

**That's all.**


End file.
